Finding You
by Potterholic85
Summary: Rose Weasley intends to keep a promise to Scorpius Malfoy, no matter what. A sequel to "Questions."
1. Chapter 1: Promises

**A/N: Hello all. This is the sequel to "Questions." I hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry this chapter is so short... it's more like a prologue, I guess. **

**I'm sorry to say that chapters won't come as frequently as they did in "Questions." My real life is getting in the way, but I promise this story will be completed in a relatively quick amount of time. **

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**Chapter 1: Promises**

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_Rose,_

_Thank you for your letters. They're truly making this summer somewhat bearable. My father has been doing a great job at making me feel as small as a mouse, while my mother is looking at me sadly but isn't saying anything to stick up for herself or me. I haven't told them about you yet, but know that this in no way reflects the way I feel about you. I hope to speak with my mother soon and try to persuade her to let me come visit you this summer, but only if it's all right with your father. Let me know. _

_I miss you terribly. I can't wait to see you. _

_Yours truly, _

_Scorpius_

Rose took a break from scavenging her normally tidy room to read the first letter she received from Scorpius that summer. Tears filled her eyes as she finished reading by the light of the moon. She reached for her satchel and carefully placed the letter inside before she continued to pilferage through her belongings, putting odd pieces of clothing and random books into her bag. After running her eyes along her desk to see if she needed anything on it, she spotted the second letter.

_I told my mother about us. Before I could tell her that I was going to come visit you, however, my father walked into the room. I ascertained from his incredibly angry face that he had eavesdropped on our conversation. He said some rather disparaging things about you, which I would not stand for. However, my defense caused me to be banished to my room. I'm sure he'll think of some sort of cruel punishment for my "disrespect" and "ignorance." I wish I was of age, so I could just leave. Hopefully after my prison sentence I can sneak away. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. The thought never fails to make me smile. _

_Hopefully see you soon, _

_Scorpius _

Rose recalled when she officially told her father about her boyfriend. He ranted and raved, of course. He swore that Scorpius must have slipped her a love potion or put some sort of spell on her, because there was "no way my daughter is going to date Ferret Junior!" After each and every rant, Rose would calmly tell him that Scorpius was nothing like his father. He was never mean to anyone that didn't deserve it, he was the funniest person she knew, and she wasn't going to break up with him no matter how much he cursed and yelled. And each time, Ron would cross his arms, huff, and tell Rose that he hated the boy. This repeated conversation grew very tiring, but Rose would continue to have it for as long as she needed to.

She shook her head to clear it of her musing and got back to business. She placed the second letter from Scorpius into her bag, while trying to forget the third, which was burning in her pocket. She knew after a few seconds, however, that it was impossible to disregard. She sat down on her bed and breathed a heavy sigh. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled letter, reading it for the hundredth time since receiving it that morning.

_Father is taking me away. Said I'll never see you again. Can't say where we're going—he cast a spell on me. I'll always remember you. _

Wiping the tears that leaked onto her cheeks while reading those few words, Rose stood up and shoved the last letter into her satchel. She quickly walked to her door, then took one last sweeping glance, making sure she was satisfied with the few belongings she was taking with her. She tiptoed out of her room and down the dark hallway before stopping. She glanced over her shoulder to where her sleeping family lay. She knew that when everyone woke up, they would panic. Hugo would sit silently and blame himself for her leaving. Her mother would try to think of a strategic way to find her, and her father…. she shuddered. She didn't want to think of what he would do—it hurt enough to be leaving like this without thinking of her father's outrage and worry that she knew would accompany her absence.

Rose took one last deep breath, steeling herself. She couldn't think of their reactions or the panic she may be causing. She could only think about the most important thing to her: keeping her promise.

With resolution, she turned towards the door and entered into the dark night.


	2. Chapter 2: Banished

**A/N: I'm doing something a bit different, Scorpius' PoV, at the suggestion of my dear dear friend, Alex. Everyone thank Alex! **

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**Chapter 2: Banished**

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Scorpius lay on his back in his bed. He had been imprisoned in his room for several days now, and had run out of things to do. He tidied, rearranged, made a mess, cleaned it up, and now he was in the middle of counting the amount of tiny holes that littered his ceiling while he thought back on the reason for his exile.

_Scorpius walked into the drawing room where his mother sat on the couch, reading. He strode over to stand in front of her and took a deep breath. "Mother," he began. _

_Astoria Malfoy looked up at her son from her book and smiled gently. "Hello, Scorpius." _

"_Mother, I would like to visit someone this summer," Scorpius proclaimed confidently with his head held high. _

_Astoria gave Scorpius an amused glance. "Oh? Who would you like to go see?" _

"_Rose Weasley." Scorpius kept the same confident tone, but could feel his cheeks turning slightly red. _

_His mother kept her amused look and patted the couch next to her for him to sit. As he took his seat, she asked, "And who is Rose Weasley?" _

_Scorpius avoided his mother's acquisitive gaze. He looked down at his hands and started picking at his nails. "My… my girlfriend," he answered, almost nervously. _

_He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see his mother's eyebrows raised with a look of surprise on her face. Before she could say anything, however, the door to the drawing room burst open with a bang. Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway, his face contorted in rage. _

"_Weasley?" Draco seethed, walking slowly toward his small family. _

_Astoria raised and stood in front of her son. "Draco-" When Draco reached her, however, he glared at her so fiercely that she immediately went back to her seat. He stood in front of Scorpius, who was looking defiantly up at his father. _

"_Father," he greeted as sarcastically as possible. _

_Draco ignored Scorpius' attitude. "Did you say Rose _Weasley_?" _

"_I did," Scorpius said casually. _

_Draco glared down at his son. "No son of mine will date a dirty, poor, stupid bitch!" Draco boiled._

_Scorpius quickly stood up and positioned himself directly in front of his father. "You will not call her such things," he whispered, glaring into his father's eyes. _

_Draco raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?" _

"_You will not speak about her like that," Scorpius continued determined. "She's an amazing person. She's sweet and loyal and kind and she's a better person than you ever have been or will be." _

_Draco leaned into Scorpius' face, mere centimeters from his son. "Go to your room," he whispered. "You will not leave until I say you can. And trust me, it won't be anytime soon." _

_Scorpius glared at his father before backing away and walking towards the doorway. Before leaving the room, he glanced at his mother, who was staring down at her hands._

_"Thanks a lot, mum," Scorpius said quietly, angry that she still wouldn't defend them. Scorpius turned and went to his room. _

Scorpius sighed. As much as he hated being stuck in his room, he hated hearing his father say terrible things about Rose even more. He would never allow anyone, especially his father, say despicable things about her.

Scorpius got up and walked around his room for what seemed like the zillionth time since being banned from the rest of the house and the outside world. He travelled to his desk and looked around. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement from a picture frame. It was a photo of him and Rose sitting at the round table that he occupied for many years in his Hogwarts career. They were doing homework, both concentrating on their separate pieces of parchment. The only thing that indicated that they were together during this time was that on the very edge of their table were their hands, intertwined. In the picture, he could see Rose squeeze his hand and take a glimpse at him. He looked up at her as well, and smiled brightly. Rose smiled back before looking down at her parchment once more. Scorpius, however, left his gaze upon her for several more seconds, and, embarrassed slightly for himself, saw a look of complete adoration on his face.

Scorpius smiled at the photo, remembering that day, and feeling excitement over seeing his Rose again. No matter how bad things were at that very moment, he knew that simply glancing at her would make his banishment all worth it.

Scorpius was so caught up in looking at the picture that he didn't hear someone silently slip into his room and pull out their wand.

"Silens locus."

Scorpius dropped the picture when he heard the voice. The sound of the glass breaking filled the room as he turned just in time to see the light blue spell hit him. He looked down, alarmed, to see what damage the spell caused him, but was surprised to see that he was perfectly fine. Scorpius looked up at who cast the spell, and saw his father standing near the door, a smug look on his face.

"What did you do?" Scorpius asked.

Draco walked further into the room. "You and I are leaving," he stated, not answering Scorpius' question.

Scorpius watched his father walked into his closet and leave with Scorpius' small suitcase.

"We're what?" Scorpius asked, shocked. "Where are we going?"

"Vratsa. I'm enrolling you in Durmstrang and you're never going to see your tramp girlfriend ever again."

Scorpius was stuck between feeling shocked about his father's statement and angry that he called Rose such a harsh name. He sputtered, "But… what… don't…"

"You sound like an idiot. Pack your bags," Draco ordered.

Scorpius found his voice finally. "I'm NOT going to..." He tried to say Vratsa, but the words wouldn't come out. He took a deep breath and tried again. "I'm won't attend…" Again, it seemed as though the words were stuck in his throat.

Draco smirked meanly at his son. "Cat got your tongue?" He teased meanly. "The spell I cast on you was a form of the Fidelius charm. You won't be telling anyone where we're going. You cannot speak or even write down your future whereabouts." Draco turned towards the door after his explanation.

Scorpius glared at his father's back. "I'm not going."

Draco slowly turned around and faced his son. "Yes, you are."

Scorpius scoffed. "No, I'm not."

"I'll be back in five minutes. Gather your belong-"

"I'm not going!" Scorpius yelled to his father. He knew he sounded like a child, but at that particular moment, he didn't care.

Draco walked back to the middle of the room and stared his son down. "You are going, even if I have to cast the Imperius curse on you. Now pack your belongings."

"There are ways to get past the Imperius, father," Scorpius seethed. "Rose's uncle could do it."

Draco laughed. "Your magical abilities hardly match up to Harry Potter's."

"I don't care. I won't let you take me anywhere," Scorpius explained quietly, crossing his arms.

Draco walked up to Scorpius, his face inches away from his son's. "You will be coming with me, or I will make it so that you're not the only one who will never see Rose Weasley again."

Scorpius stared at his father, fear creeping into his veins. "You wouldn't," he breathed.

"Do you really feel like testing me, boy?" Draco replied. When Scorpius didn't answer, Draco turned and walked towards the door once more. "I won't tell you again," he said over his shoulder. "Pack your things. I will be back for you in five minutes." And with that, Draco walked out of the room, leaving a shocked Scorpius in his wake.

Scorpius stared at the door after his father left. In a daze, he slowly began walking around the room, collecting things putting them into his suitcase. He couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't know how his father could get to Rose, but he did know that he used to be a Death Eater. He had heard her talk about her father being an Auror, but what if his father still had some dark contacts no one knew about? He had to protect Rose by going with his father. But the thought of never seeing her again made his chest hurt _so badly_ and his breath came in shorter increments. He couldn't live with this. What was he going to do? He didn't know how to stop his father, and all he knew about Vrasta was that their team, the Vultures, lost to the Appleby Arrows in the 1932 game where—

Scorpius' eyes became the size of saucers as the idea hit him. He ran over to his desk and grabbed his copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages. _He turned to page forty and ripped it out. He then took his quill, and circled the words "Bulgarian **Vratsa Vultures**" several times. He stuck the page back in his book, seeing that he successfully unsettled the pages.

A quiet hoot came from his window, making him jump. He looked and saw Rose's family owl, Daci, sitting on the sill with a note for him. He took a piece of scrap parchment from his desk and scribbled a quick note.

_Father is taking me away. Said I'll never see you again. Can't say where we're going—he cast a spell on me. I'll always remember you. _

Scorpius stared at the note for a moment before quickly walking to the owl, taking the note from her leg and adding his own. He watched Daci fly away for a moment before sticking his note in his pocket and running around his room, throwing random pieces of clothing into his suitcase. He was able to zip the bag quickly before his father walked into the room.

"Come along," Draco commanded, holding the door open for Scorpius. The younger man gathered his bag and walked out the door, bumping his father with his shoulder as he did.

Draco grabbed his son's shoulder roughly and turned him around. "The next few years of your life can be easy or very difficult. If you don't start showing me some respect, it will become the latter."

Scorpius glared at his father, and then continued to walk. He traveled down the stairs and came to the entry way. He looked around his childhood home one more time before reaching the door.

_Please, someone find me… _


	3. Chapter 3: On the Knight Bus

Chapter 3: On the Knight Bus

Rose walked purposefully to the end of her driveway, and then stopped. She stared into the dark evening, realizing one crucial element to her sudden plans: she had no idea where Scorpius lived. She sat down on the curb to think.

Scorpius never voluntarily gave information about his home for obvious reasons. The more he didn't have to think about the place, the better, she knew. However, she did know that he lived in a small manor, and she learned from the Pegasus story that he had a large expansion of land.

She rubbed her forehead, wracking her brain to think of details about Scorpius. Favorite subject astronomy… favorite food steak and kidney pie… favorite Quidditch team the Appleby Arrows…

Rose lifted her head quickly. The Arrows! They were his favorite team, but he was only able to watch them play (if he was able to sneak away) when they came into town to play the Tutshill Tornados! And Rose knew from a Quidditch obsessed father and brother that the Tornados were based out of Wiltshire.

With excitement, Rose stood up quickly and raised her wand hand. She waited eagerly for the purple triple-decker bus to show. After a few seconds, she heard an earsplitting _bang _and was blinded by lights shining straight into her eyes. The bus sputtered and settled, making a racket that reverberated through the neighborhood. In all her enthusiasm, she forgot how loud the vehicle was, and suddenly she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Rose grabbed her bag and ran to the door of the Knight Bus before it opened. She bounced from one foot to the other, continually looking back at her family home, until the doors squeaked open and a short man in a purple conductor uniform and a bushy mustache jumped off the bus and cleared his throat.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus!" he read loudly and enthusiastically from a piece of paper. "Merely wave your wand hand, step on board, and we'll happily take you were you need to go. My name is Phillip Turnstrout, and I will be your conductor this evening," he finished with a flourish and a bow to Rose.

"Uh, yes," Rose whispered. "Listen, can we just move along quickly, please?"

"Oh yes!" Phillip answered boisterously. "Allow me to take your bag-"

"No, no, I've got it," Rose voiced, trying to shove past the man and onto the bus.

"Not so quickly, madam!" Phillip shouted, standing in her way. "There is a matter of payment!"

Rose took the bag off her shoulder and reached into it, grabbing several Galleons—nearly her entire life's savings.

"I will give you ever Galleon in my hand if we can leave _now_," Rose whispered determinedly.

Phillip looked to her hand, his eyes widening. "Come along, miss, we've not got all night!" he beckoned, bowing her into the bus. Rose handed him the money and ran onto the bus. "All right, Ernie, quickly now! We're on our way to…" The short man looked to Rose, who was sitting anxiously on the edge of the bed that the bus provided her with. "Where exactly are we going, miss?"

"Wiltshire, please."

"To Wiltshire, Ernest!" Phillip proclaimed dramatically, pointing his finger far into the air.

Ernie nodded his head and shifted the bus in gear. The next second, there was another very loud _bang,_ and the Knight Bus was on its way.

Rose let out a deep breath, relieved that her family didn't waken with all the extreme distractions outside their home. She sat back further on her rickety beds and rubbed her face.

"Miss?" Rose looked up to see Phillip sitting in his armchair, watching her with interest. "May I ask what your name is?"

"Um… Hannah," Rose answered.

"Hm… you have an amazing resemblance to the Weasley family," Phillip deduced, rubbing his mustache.

Rose huffed. "And you look like someone who shouldn't be asking so many questions with how much money you've just received," she impolitely informed him, narrowing her eyes.

Phillip stared at Rose with wide eyes for a moment, and then chuckled lightly. "Right you are, Hannah. You're welcome to rest your head; we'll ensure that you arrive to your destination safely."

Rose blushed. She knew she shouldn't have been so rude to the conductor. She smiled at Phillip apologetically. "Thank you Phillip. And you, Ernie."

She saw Ernie raise a hand, indicating his acknowledgement of her appreciation, causing him to lose control of the bus for a moment. She saw a light post jump across the street in order to avoid the careening vehicle.

Rose let go of the bed post, which she just realized she was gripping quite tightly, and laid on her bed. She lay her head down and fell into a restless, bumpy sleep.

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She stood in a foggy forest. It reminded her of the thicket on the Hogwarts grounds. She began to walk, the fog providing her with the light she needed. She travelled forward until she saw a bright light in the mist. She continued faster, curious as to what the glow was. As she approached it, she saw the light take a human form. She recognized that form…

"Scorpius!" Rose yelled, running up to the young man. When she reached him, she saw that he was gazing forward, as though he wasn't aware anyone was there.

"You promised," Scorpius voiced in a monotone.

Rose looked into Scorpius' eyes, confused. "What?"

"You promised," Scorpius repeated.

"What did I promise, Scorpius?" Rose asked, touching his cheek. It was as cold as ice.

"You promised no matter if we fought," Scorpius started. Rose suddenly knew what it was she assured him of.

Rose grabbed both sides of Scorpius' frozen face and looked him in the eyes. "I promised I'd find you. I did find you, Scorpius."

"You promised no matter how mad we are at each other," Scorpius continued in an eerily calm way.

Rose released his face and grabbed his shoulders. "Scorpius! Look at me!" she yelled as she shook him.

"You promised that you would always come find me," Scorpius finished.

Suddenly, his appearance began to slowly fizzle around the edges. Rose let go of Scorpius quickly, surprised at the change. She back up and watched as his form became slightly taller, slightly balder, and slightly more menacing. Before she knew it she was looking up into Draco Malfoy snarling face.

Rose gasped and slowly backed away. The ominous form of Draco Malfoy followed her slowly, looming over her.

"No," Rose whispered in fear, and turned to run away. She did not get very far, however, before she fell over a tree root. Rose turned just in time to see Draco quickly whip out his wand and point it at her.

Rose cringed, readying herself for the spell that she knew would take her away from her friends and family for forever…

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Rose woke with a start. She sat up quickly, trying to gather her surroundings. She saw rows of moving beds, much like the one she was lying on. _Knight Bus_, Rose thought. She looked towards the front of the bus and saw Phillip looking at her with concern.

"Are you quite all right, Hannah?"

Rose rubbed her face with her hand to fully awaken herself. "Yes, thank you, Phillip," she responded. She looked out the window and saw city streets passing her by. "Are we near Wiltshire yet?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, miss," Phillip answered, shaking his head. "During your slumber we were called back for an emergency. We're going back to London."

"What?" Rose asked, panicked. She jumped from her bed and held on to the bed post to keep her balance. "But… we were…"

"I'm sorry, miss, but we had no other choice. We'll continue on your journey after we figure out what's happening."

"No!" Rose yelled. "We can't… I have to-"

"London, Leaky Cauldron," Ernie croaked, stopping the bus suddenly. Rose, not expecting the stop, flew forward towards the bus doors. She heard the doors open and looked outside to see a very red, very angry man standing outside them.

Rose gulped. "H… h… hello, daddy."

ABCDEFG

"You must have lost your mind, that's the only logical explanation!"

Rose sat in a chair in a room above the Leaky Cauldron, leaning her head against her hand while she listened to her father fume for the last forty five minutes. He had reprimanded her in every way possible-she was crazy, irresponsible, under a spell, dense, barmy, so on and so forth.

"Your mother was worried sick! Your brother just about had a nervous breakdown! You very lucky that your uncle Harry thought about the Knight Bus before I had the entire Auror department searching for you!" Ron's yelled, his voice becoming hoarse from scolding her so severely.

Rose felt terrible when her father found her. She had never seen his face so red, or his eyes so disappointed. She gladly accepted the belittling she was receiving when it began. However, after time she found she became irritated with his fury and wanted to continue on her voyage to find a handsome young blond.

"Father," Rose said softly, interrupting her father's tirade. Ron stopped his continuous pacing and stared down at her, almost as if he were surprised that she was there, he was so lost in his ranting. "I understand how angry you are at me. I'm mad at myself for doing something so foolish. But I have to go find Scorpius, and right now we're just wasting time."

Ron's eyes grew three times their usual size. "What… what did you just say?" he whispered.

Rose bravely stood up and walked to the bed where her satchel lay and began rummaging through it. "I made a promise to Scorpius, dad. And I don't intend on breaking it." Rose found what she was looking for and looked back at her father. Redness was crawling up his neck slowly, creeping towards his face to meet his enraged eyes. "Here, read these," she said quickly, holding out three letters to her father before she lost her nerve.

Ron eyed the letters suspiciously before grabbing them from her hands. He looked through each one, a scowl gracing his face whenever he read how much Scorpius missed Rose. He read the last letter quickly before handing them back to Rose.

"You see, Dad? His father… he's a horrible man. And if I don't go and find him, then he'll keep Scorpius away for forever," Rose tried to explain. "A few months ago I promised that I'd find him, no matter what. And now I have to keep the promise, because if I don't go and find him, no one else will."

Ron stared down at his daughter for a moment, as though he was calculating his next words. "This is a family matter and has nothing to do with us," he finally said briefly in a very business-like tone. He then grabbed Rose's arm and began to escort her to the door. "Now, let's go home before your mother-"

Rose saw red.

"That's bullshit!" she bellowed, yanking her arm out of her father's grasp. She saw her father give her a hard look and clench his jaw. Before he could admonish her for use of such strong language, she quickly and angrily continued. "If this were happening to someone else, like Chessie or Cici, you would have your Auror department out there right away, searching until you found them! But you won't go and find Scorpius because he's a Malfoy!" Rose wiped away a tear that trailed down her cheek. "Well I won't be pulled into your historical rivalry! I'm going to keep my promise! I'm going to go find Scorpius!" With that, Rose threw her satchel over her shoulder and began walking to the door.

She took three steps before her father grabbed her arm again, holding her tightly this time. "Are you insane?" he asked lividly. "You're in enough trouble as it is without giving me that kind of lip!"

"I don't care," Rose boiled quietly. She felt her emotions begin to get the best of her as another tear dripped down her cheek, followed by a few more. "You can take away my wand, try to shut me away, do whatever you want, but nothing is going to stop me." Her breath hitched. Her eyes became blurry as she looked at her father's enraged face. The tears must have been playing tricks on her, because she thought she saw his expression grow softer. She closed her eyes and let the wave of unbearable sadness and complete determination take her over. "I have to find him, Dad. I promised. I'm the only one that will. I just… I need to find him…" She sank to the ground with sudden weakness and covered her eyes as she cried.

Rose felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. She could holler and curse as much as she wanted to her father, but she was quickly realizing that even if she did continue with her expedition, she had no idea where he was or what she could find at his house. She needed to find him, but she just didn't know how.

Rose jumped when she felt a hand softly touch her shoulder. She looked and saw that the hand was attached to her father. She glanced up and saw his features hard, but his eyes soft.

"All right, fine. We'll go find him. But we're going to do this my-"

Ron's contract was cut short by Rose jumping up and squeezing him with a hug. She took a deep shaky breath and let the tears, new with relief, come. She felt her father squeeze her back and shake with a small chuckle. He let go of her and held her at arm's length to get a good look at her.

"Now, we better get you home before you r mother goes completely insane, and trust me, she's not far off."


	4. Chapter 4: The Manor

**A/N: So… have any of you ever watched **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender?**_** Well, if you have, then you know why this chapter is so late. Because it just SUCKS YOU IN and won't let you do ANYTHING ELSE! But it's such an amazing show… if you get the opportunity, you should watch it. I'm hoping the movie stands up to the series standards… but we all know how well THAT goes… **

**Anywhoodle, enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter 4: The Manor**

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**When Rose arrived home from her thwarted rescue attempt, her mother had kittens. Hermione looked her daughter over quickly, and, after she realized Rose was safe, began a tirade about Rose's newfound irresponsibility, to no shock to Rose. What was shocking, however, was after only a few seconds, her father stopped her mother's ranting and told her to let Rose be. She witnessed as her mother glared at her father intensely, but quickly let the issue go.

The next day, Ron came home from work and told Rose that he had found the Malfoy address through some connections at the Ministry, and asked if she wanted to go with him to have a look around. While her mother was hesitant to let Rose explore on a mini Auror mission, it didn't stop Rose from giving her father a resounding yes.

Moments later Ron and Rose were on their way. Rose side-along Apparated with her father, causing her to lose her breath and stumble when they arrived at their destination. Once Rose found her legs, she looked up to see a large white home behind a tall wrought iron fence. There were trees all over the property—the shadows made the house look more ominous than Rose had imagined.

"Well," Ron said, dusting himself off, "let's go." He began to walk to the fence gate.

"Wait, what?" Rose asked, slightly confused. "Are you just going to go right up and knock on the door?"

Ron looked at her, brow furrowed. "That's generally how we start an investigation, Rosie."

"Well, aren't you supposed to, I don't know, search the grounds? Secure the perimeter? Sneak in somehow?" Rose asked, her tone sounding as if she were stating the most obvious thing in the world.

Ron stared at his daughter for a moment, unblinking. "I'm not letting you watch the television anymore," he said, patting her on the head. Rose swatted his hand away before he walked up to the gate fence and opened it for her.

As they began traveling up the Malfoy's walkway, Ron whispered instructions to Rose.

"I have no idea what we're going to face here. I don't think Draco and Scorpius will be here, so I'm not expecting there to be any need for defense. But just in case things get a bit exciting, I want you to have your wand out and have _Stupify _on the tip of your tongue," Ron drilled, taking out his own wand as he spoke. "And if things do get a bit hairy, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell your mother. She would kill me if I got you in any sort of danger."

Rose giggled as they reached the door, but gained her seriousness once again as her father knocked. They listened carefully, trying to pick up on any sort of movement inside, but only heard the birds chirping and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Rose's anxiety grew as her father knocked again, afraid that nothing would come of this visit, meaning she would be taking one step back from keeping her promise and finding the young man she cared so much for.

They waited a few moments longer. Rose then saw her father look down and shake his head. "I'm sorry, Rose, but-"

Ron was cut off by the sudden and quick movement of the door. They looked up in surprise, both raising their wands in one fluid motion. In the doorway stood a thin woman with dark blond hair and bright blue eyes that were streaming tears. She had a tissue in her hand, which was positioned in front of her chest in a feeble attempt to protect herself from the wands that were directed at her. She looked quickly between the two seemingly assailants standing in front of her. Her alarmed look softened, however, after she quickly examined the young woman before her. She lowered her hands and inhaled a small gasp.

"You must be Rose," she spoke softly.

Rose felt her system become shocked at the instant recognition. "Um… yes, I am."

Astoria nodded and looked to Ron. "Auror Weasley, please, won't you both come in?" she asked as she turned and walked further into her house.

Rose looked to her father, lowering her wand. Ron did the same and smiled at Rose, indicating with his hand that she should follow Scorpius' mother into the home. Rose nodded and walked through the threshold of her boyfriend's most despised location.

Rose noticed as she walked through the home how very pristine it was. There didn't seem to be a speck of dust in the entire manor, and everything was in its correct place. It seemed very cold to her—she realized it was a house, but it didn't feel anything like a home.

As they reached the kitchen, they watched as Astoria grabbed a tea kettle out of a cabinet. "Would either of you like a refreshment?" she asked, fumbling with the kettle, as though making tea was the furthest thing from her mind.

Rose looked on the woman with pity. In less than a moment she lost her husband and her only child to her husband's foolishness. She couldn't imagine living without her parents and her brother. The thought made her chest hurt.

Ron walked to Astoria and took the kettle from her hands. "No thank you, Astoria. Why don't you have a seat?" he asked as he pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. She plopped down absentmindedly, still lost in her thoughts. "Rose, I need to speak with Scorpius' mother for a moment. Would you mind waiting out in the hallway?"

"But-" Rose began to protest.

"Rose," her father said sternly, giving her a look to relay how very serious he was.

Before she could think of a reason to stay, Mrs. Malfoy spoke up. "Why don't you go up to Scorpius' room?" she mumbled. "It's up the stairs, the third door on the right."

Rose looked to her father, who nodded his head in approval. She thanked Mrs. Malfoy and left the kitchen.

When she entered Scorpius' room, she noticed how big it was, and how few belonging were settled into it. She saw a bed located in the middle of the room, with an armoire and a desk to the left of it and a closet to the right. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, realizing that less than 48 hours ago, Scorpius was in this room.

She shook her head, trying to not let the overwhelming sadness take her over entirely. She began to randomly walk around the room, not paying attention to where she was as she went. After a few steps, Rose heard a crunch under her foot. She looked down saw a frame with chattered glass surrounding it. She picked it up and saw a photo of the two of them in the Ravenclaw common room taken late last year. Rose smiled as she glanced at the picture through the shards of glass still remaining in the frame. She placed the photo gently on his desk, letting the day the picture was taken run through her thoughts. Before her friendship with Scorpius, she had never really allowed herself to imagine finding someone she could care for and would in return care for her as well, what with her school studies and attention to her family. With Scorpius, though, she found herself caring more than she thought possible, and was more than ecstatic to know that the feelings were reciprocated by the blond gentleman. As she sat there, gazing upon the picture, she began to realize just how deeply she felt for Scorpius—as if running away from her family in a hopeless attempt to find him on her own wasn't any sort of indication.

Rose shook her head as she thought of her own foolishness. She didn't fool herself into believing that picking up her life to run after a boy she might not find was the smartest thing to do. But the thought of never seeing his warm smile or laugh at his jokes or feel his arms around her again was completely unbearable, causing her to throw logic out the window.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath-she had to clear her head. She searched the room, attempting to find anything to take her mind off her depressing thoughts. She began to reach for books on Scorpius' desk, randomly flipping through them, hoping the sounds of the pages would clear her mind. She looked through several, never really paying attention to the title or content, until a page fell out of the newest book that was in her hand. She looked at the cover and saw that it was _Quidditch Through the Ages_, a book she knew Scorpius had read on several occasions. She bent down to pick up the loose page that had fallen on the floor. She saw that it was a page that talked briefly about European teams and noticed that the words "Bulgarian **Vratsa Vultures**" had been circled.

"That's odd," Rose mumbled to herself. "His favorite team is the Appleby Arr-" Rose dropped the book as the relevance of the circle words hit her. "Thank you, Scorpius!" she whispered as she ran out of the room, down the stairs, and through the hallway.

She burst through the kitchen door, waving the page from the book in the air. "I found-"

She stopped her exciting news quickly as she saw Scorpius' mother sobbing into her hands on one side of the table and her father awkwardly trying to offer comforting words while sitting on the other side.

"I'm sorry," Rose muttered quietly, slowly backing out of the kitchen.

"No, Rose, it's okay," her father rushed, almost looking relieved that he was momentarily off of comforting duty. "What is that?"

Rose looked to her hand, nearly forgetting that she was holding the clue to Scorpius' whereabouts.

"Oh, um… I found this is Scorpius' room," she began nervously. "It's a page out of _Quidditch Through the Ages._ I saw that he circled the Vratsa Vultures, which I found weird because his favorite team is the Appleby Arrows."

Rose heard Scorpius' mother take a deep, shuddering breath, and looked to see her staring at the page in her hand. "I never knew that was his favorite team," she scoffed at herself, shaking her head.

"Right…" Rose continued, uneasily. "Dad, I think that he was trying to leave a clue as to where he was by circling the team. His dad cast a spell on him so he couldn't say where he was going, but he found a way around that! I think he's in Vratsa!" she finished, excited.

Rose's father smiled at her. "Fantastic, Rose. We'll make an Auror out of you yet." Ron stood up and looked to Astoria. "If Rose is right, we'll find your son soon." He walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We'll bring him home, Astoria."

Mrs. Malfoy lost control of her emotions once again and could only sob into her hands and nod. With a final pat on the shoulder, Ron and Rose walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and out the front door.

"You did amazingly in there, Rosie," her father said as he looked onto her with pride beaming from his eyes.

Rose smiled. "Thank you. I really just got lucky by flipping randomly through books."

Ron laughed. "Luck is about ninety five percent of the job, kiddo." He touched her shoulder, causing her to stop and look at him. "I'm going to get your Uncle Harry and we're going to go Vratsa first thing in the morning. We're not coming back without him, don't you worry."

"I won't be worrying, because I'll be there as well," Rose said quickly as she began walking again.

Rose took several steps and heard much sputtering before her father recovered enough to talk. "Rose, you're not going," he exclaimed, matter-of-factly.

Rose turned around. "Dad, yes I am," she said in the same tone of voice.

Ron walked to his daughter and stopped right before reaching her, allowing his height to tower over her. "I'm not letting you go on a full blown Auror mission with me, Rose. It's too dangerous."

"I'm sure I'll be perfectly safe, being surrounded by two Aurors," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

Ron glared at her, angered by her stubbornness. "Do you honestly think that your mother is going to let you come to Bulgaria with your uncle and me?"

Rose sighed and looked into her father's eyes. "Dad, I think you're forgetting that I'm going to be of age in three days. You don't have to let me come with you tomorrow, but the second I turn seventeen, I'm going to Bulgaria to find Scorpius. No amount of speeches by Mom or glares by you is going to keep me from going." Rose looked down at her feet so she didn't have to see the displeased look her father as giving her. "I'm sorry I'm being so bullheaded about this, but I-"

"Have to find him, I know," Ron grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. "You know, you're becoming more and more like your mother every day."

"That's funny, she said the same thing about you just a few days ago," Rose laughed.

"Haha," Ron laughed sardonically. He shook his head and took a deep breath. "If you convince your mother to let you go, then you can go. But you listen to me, and you listen well," he spoke, seriously. "This isn't going to be a vacation—it is a mission. When we're in Vratsa, you will do what I say when I say it. There will be no arguing, no protesting, only complete acceptance of what I tell you to do. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Rose said, just as seriously. She wasn't going to screw up her only chance of finding Scorpius.

"All right," Ron nodded, taking hold of her arm. "Now let's go home and see how good your elocution skills are with your mother." He then turned on the spot and they both vanished.


	5. Chapter 5: Vratsa

**A/N: I'm sorry. I can give you a thousand excuses as to why this chapter hasn't been posted sooner, but really, who wants to hear them? So I hope you enjoy the chapter, and again, I apologize. **

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**Chapter 5: Vratsa**

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By some miraculous happenstance, Hermione agreed to let Rose go to Bulgaria with Ron and Harry. But, as it usually happened due to the dynamic of her mother and father's relationship, there was a catch.

"I'm going with you," she demanded. Rose watched her father grimace from her seat in the living room.

"Hermione…" Ron began.

"No, Ron," she said before he could even get a word out. He continued anyhow.

"I really need for you-"

"No, _Ron_."

"—to stay here-"

"_No_, Ron."

"—and help Astoria-"

"No, Ron!"

"—whileshegrieves!" Ron finished quickly before Hermione could object any further.

Hermione glared at her husband, words not necessary with the look that she was bearing upon him.

Rose saw her father take a small step backwards and look anywhere but at his wife. "You know I wouldn't normally ask you to do this, Hermione, but Astoria's really hurting right now, and you're the nicest, most sympathetic person I know," he finished, his voice rising at the end, making it sound more like he was asking a question. He looked at Hermione and gave her the sweetest smile he could muster.

Hermione's glare didn't lose severity, but Rose did hear a low, quiet sigh escape from her mother. "Fine. But you _will_ be contacting me every evening, or I will come find you and you will _not_ be satisfied with my visit, I assure you."

Ron smiled at his wife and kissed her on the forehead. "Just like always, my love."

Rose remembered this conversation as she sat with her father and Uncle Harry at a sidewalk café in Vratsa. Ron, who was disguised with brown, shaggy hair, with no freckles and brown eyes, searched each person that passed them on the street with a scowl on his face. Harry, who was now a short, balding, pudgy man without glasses, held in a laugh while he watched his best friend.

"Something bothering you, Rob?" her uncle asked her father, using his disguised name.

Ron continued to examine the passer-bys as he snorted without humor. "The sooner we can get out of here, the better."

Harry leaned into Rose, who was now sporting straight blonde hair and a pair of glasses, and stage whispered. "You know, Roz, I think that your father is afraid we'll run into Viktor Krum."

"Shut up, H… Larry!" Ron grumped.

"I didn't know that you knew Viktor Krum, Dad," Rose giggled, working to get a bigger reaction out of her father. His playful irritation had been a welcome reprieve in their unsuccessful journey of Vratsa.

Rose, Ron and Harry had searched the mountainous town thoroughly. Daily, they would walk the streets and enter shops with the charade of being tourists. They ate at all the local restaurants, visited each of the museums, and generally tried to be in as many places as possible to give them a greater chance of spotting the Malfoy duo. They even took a trip up to Durmstrang to "enroll" Rose into the school, but were quickly shooed away by the suspicious Headmistress. It had been two weeks, and they were as close to finding Scorpius as when they started.

Rose listened to her father and uncle argue jovially about the playboy ex-Quidditch star while she stared absentmindedly across the street. She knew what was really bothering her father: he thought that finding Scorpius seemed to be a bust. She could see in his face, his eyes, his posture that he wanted to tell her that they would be going home, but he could never get it out when she looked back at him with such sadness and eagerness. Rose knew her puppy-dog eyes couldn't last forever, though, and needed to think of a way of telling her father, "Well, I'll see you at home when I find him, because there's no way I'm leaving until I do."

She rubbed her eyes under her fake glasses and scratched her face before she continued to look across the street and inspect each person she saw. _Woman… not him. Short man with a mole… not him. Suspicious looking man in a trench coat and bowler hat… not him. Skinny balding man with brown hair and a haughty demeanor… not him. Young man with same brown hair following close with his head down and looking as though he was a beaten dog, not…_ Rose stopped her scrutiny and focused closer on the young man. He had a longer nose than most people, and his hair was down past his ears, but there was something about the younger man that she felt was familiar… something that made her heart skip a beat…

And then he looked at her.

"Oh my…" she gasped.

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Scorpius walked slowly behind his father, carrying his shopping bags. He made sure to keep Draco in sight, but not close enough to listen to his beratings and stories of the "good ol' days."

Since they've arrived in Vratsa two weeks ago, Scorpius' life had been miserable. He took non-stop scrutiny from his father, who had magically dyed their hair to be a dark brown and lengthened Scorpius' nose in a less-than-pleasant transformation so no one would recognize them. He had to watch as Draco went out every night with a different woman; he wanted to severely maim his father by hurting his mother even further, but Draco did such a good job of berating Scorpius and giving him hell, that the young man felt completely insufficient. He knew nobody here, he was nobody here, and he couldn't do anything about it. His father's rule was complete authority.

As Scorpius walked behind his father, his mind returned to the thing that he kept at the forefront of his thoughts: Rose. He would be seventeen in three months. He knew the second that he became a wizarding adult, he would leave (but not without punching his father in the face first) and find Rose. She would be in Hogwarts then, though… and since he'd been enrolled in Durmstrang not five minutes after they arrived in Vratsa, he didn't think he'd be allowed to complete his final year at his preferred school… it didn't matter. All that he needed was to be near Rose. Schooling and the future could wait.

Scorpius glanced at his father to make sure he was still at an acceptable distance from him. He saw Draco walking with his chin raised and with a swagger that he knew was meant for any woman that may be watching. He shook his head and scowled as he continued to watch the sidewalk. It was a moment later when he had an odd tingly sense, like someone was watching him. He looked at the people around him, but nobody gave him a second glance. He peered across the street and saw a sidewalk café full of patrons. He gazed upon each person until he saw a young woman looking at him. She had blonde hair and wore glasses, and had the most amazing eyes…

Scorpius dropped his father's shopping bags in shock. "Oh my…"

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"It's him," she whispered, standing up and staring at the object of her recent obsession with tears in her eyes. It had seemed like nearly forever seen she had last seen him. "It's him," she repeated, almost unable to believe what she was saying. She could see Scorpius plain as day. His outside features looked a bit different, but she could recognize those eyes anywhere.

"Dad," Rose gasped, but her father was still too busy insisting that he was not worried about seeing Viktor Krum to her uncle. "Dad!" she whispered more harshly, smacking him on the shoulder a bit harder than she intended to.

Ron jumped and furrowed his brow at his daughter. "….ow," he griped.

"Dad, it's him," she said unapologetically. "He's right over there, I know it's him!" she confided urgently.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see her dad look to where she was gazing without blinking. "Rosie, honey, I think that you want that to be him, but…"

"No, Dad, it's him. I know those eyes," she stated emphatically.

She continued to not break eye contact with Scorpius while her father thought carefully about what to say next. "It doesn't look anything like-"

"Dad, I fell in love with those eyes. I _know_ that it's Scorpius," she declared unequivocally and without hesitation.

The air was still around the family. She could feel her father bristle next to her, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the man who was standing across the street, a look of such hope and amazement in his eyes that she couldn't bear to look way. She watched as Scorpius, oblivious to all of his surroundings, began to slowly make his way over to his girlfriend.

"No," Ron whispered, standing in front of Rose. He waved his arms as inconspicuously as possible, trying to stop the boy, but it didn't have any sort of effect. "The stupid boy is going to ruin the mission," Ron muttered quietly. It was loud enough for Rose to hear, however.

She stepped in front of her father and looked at the young man who had reached the street. She shook her head just slightly, but it was enough for him to stop and give her a very confused look. She heard her father exhale in relief. When she looked behind her, she saw her Ron indicate with a motion with his hand between him and Harry that they were there to help. He then took two of his fingers, raised them to his eyes, and then pointed them at Scorpius, implying that they were watching him. He finished with pointing to up the street to Draco, who Rose had just noticed was the skinny man with the haughty attitude, who had gotten far ahead of his son. Ron wanted Scorpius to catch up with Draco quickly to not arouse any suspicion. She then looked back at Scorpius, who was watching her, trying to relay with his eyes and facial expression that no matter what, they'd be together soon. Rose felt her heart swell with fear, but more overwhelmingly with hope. She nodded and watched as he went back to the sidewalk to pick up some shopping bags just in time for his father to turn around and see that he wasn't there. She watched as Draco yelled something to Scorpius, probably rude by the way that Scorpius bristle, and saw him begin to walk away, but not without a last glance at Rose.

Rose watched him until he disappeared in the distance, then breathed a heavy sigh and sat down in her chair.

"Harry-" Ron began.

"Got you covered, mate," he said, patting Ron on the arm. He walked over to Rose and kissed her on the head. "We'll get him, don't worry." He then patted her on the shoulder before walking quickly towards where Scorpius and Draco disappeared.

Rose stared at the table, quickly replaying the things that just happened in her mind. She couldn't believe that she found him. She knew that it was a long shot, but they did it! They found him!

"Did you really mean what you said?"

She quickly looked up at her father, shaking herself from mental reveries, and saw that he was giving her a quizzical stare.

"I'm sorry?" She really wasn't sure what he was talking about.

Her father scrunched his eyebrows and looked down at his hands. "Did you really mean that you… well… that you… love..." Ron closed his eyes and shook his head.

Rose tried to recall what her father was referring to. She saw Scorpius, recognized his eyes, her father didn't believe her, she said she… _oh._

"Well…" Rose began hesitantly. Did she really mean it? She told her father in the heat of the moment that she did so that he would believe that the man was Scorpius, but were those her true feelings? She thought back to her last year of Hogwarts-all the time she had spent getting to know him, the discussions they had, followed by the hugs, then the kisses, and most importantly, the amount of time she had spent doing whatever she could to keep a promise. She decided that the statement of her feelings wasn't only real, but it was truest thing she had ever said. "I suppose… I suppose I did mean that." She looked at her father out of the corner of her eye. He had immediately decorated his face with a scowl and began to tap his fingers quickly on the table in front of him.

"I still don't like the boy," he grumbled.

Rose grinned widely, finding it amazing that her father could go from hating Scorpius for dating his daughter to helping her find him in such a short amount of time. In that moment, she had never been happier to have him as her father.


	6. Chapter 6: Found You

**A/N: Hm… I'm going to go ahead and rate this chapter T. So all you kiddies below age 13, scoot! I'm not getting in trouble because your parents found out you read it!**

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Chapter 6: Found You

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Rose couldn't stop pacing. She and her dad went back to their hotel room after Harry left to follow the Malfoy duo. They changed back to their regular appearances, and then began to wait. Rose tried to sit down and concentrate on other things for nearly two hours, but her efforts were wasted. What if her uncle failed? What if they had to start all over again? She shook her head of these thoughts often, but they just kept coming back.

Her father, however, seemed to not be worried at all. "I can't believe that they have these here!" he expressed happily as he read a Bulgarian copy of _The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle_ in a comfortable recliner the hotel room offered. Rose ignored her father's jolliness and continued her pacing. _He has to find them, he has to find them… _

"I don't understand a word and it's _still_ hilarious!" Ron laughed manically. Ron's ignorance of Rose's frantic pace began to annoy her.

"Dad!" Rose yelled, stopping her continuous march for a moment to glower at him. "Would you please quiet down? Can't you see I'm trying to… to…"

"To mope and pace? I'd rather read Bulgarian than watch you make me dizzy, thanks," Ron smirked up at his daughter and laid the comic book down. "Listen, Rosie, Harry has figure out puzzles grown wizards shouldn't have been able to understand, fought basilisks, uncovered true enemies, went through the bloody Tri-Wizard Tournament at age fourteen, fought Voldemort on more occasions that I would care to mention, _died_, came back to life, and has become one of the most successful Auror's in the history of the Ministry of Magic. I think that he can track a kid. Relax." He shook his head before picking up his comic and reading again.

Rose huffed as she sat on the bed. _Relax… okay, relax… _She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She concentrated on nothing, and let nothing enter her brain. Then her leg started to jiggle. _Okay, just need to let go of some energy… relax… _she thought to herself as her she started tapping her fingers on the bed. _Just need to stretch the fingers… _And then her foot started tapping rapidly.

"Rosie…" Ron began to reprimand.

"I can't relax!" she yelled. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm just… I'm so worried that Uncle Harry won't be able to find them. I mean, I know he's a super wizard and all, but anything could have happened and then what? We'll have to start from square one and school is going to start and I know that you want me to go back but you know I just can't if I can't find him because-"

"Breathe, niece," came an amused voice from the room doorway. Rose jumped up from the bed quickly and saw her uncle, in his natural form, leaning on the door frame and smiling at her.

Ron lowered his comic and raised an eyebrow at his friend. "I hope you found something, seeing as how you're out of disguise, or else I'd going to punch you in the gut for your lack of professionalism."

"Ever since you've become my partner, you're been threatening to punch me in the gut? Why is that?" Harry asked with an inquisitive look on his face.

"I don't know… maybe deep down I'm angry at you for marrying my poor little sister," Ron answered, rubbing his chin with a look of amusement in his eye.

"Yes," Harry said, nodding his head solemnly. "Perhaps your subconscious-"

"Excuse me, Doctors Psychobabble!" Rose yelled, stamping her foot in frustration. "Could someone _please _tell me what-"

Before she could complete her sentence, Harry reached his arm into the hallway and took a step to the left, revealing a blond haired young man. Rose felt as though she had been hit in the head with a cauldron. She gasped and fell to the bed as she lost all feeling in her body, her brain going numb.

She heard her father bark a short laugh. "So, how did this come along?"

"It's really not that thrilling of a tale. I followed the two, but it wasn't long thereafter that Draco realized someone was pursuing them."

"Hm… losing your touch, I see," Ron said, shaking his head.

"A momentarily lapse in judgment, I solemnly swear," Harry said, narrowing his eyes in good humor. "He turned around and tried to cast a jinx, in a street full of muggles, mind you, but he's about as good at dueling as he was in second year. I disarmed and stunned him, cast a memory charm on the locals, then took him to the Bulgarian Ministry for crimes of kidnapping, menacing, and assaulting an Auror. He's sitting in jail, and the young Mr. Malfoy has been delivered, as promised," Harry finished, smiling at his niece.

Rose didn't notice, though. Her eyes were glued to Scorpius, who was not looking back at her, but instead staring at the floor, seemingly having some sort of conversation in his head. He then looked up quickly, not to Rose, but to her father. He walked briskly to Ron and stuck out his hand. "Thank you for finding me, sir. I don't know if I would have had the strength to escape on my own."

Ron stared at Scorpius' hand wearily for a few seconds before standing from his chair and looking down at the young man, his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. Scorpius never faltered, however, despite Ron's menacing look, causing Ron to sigh and shake his offered hand. "It's not me you should be thanking. Rose is the one that figured everything out. We were just the muscle."

At that, Scorpius turned and looked at Rose for the first time since arriving in the hotel room, freezing where he stood once he made eye contact. Rose felt her heart explode as she finally looked into his beautiful eyes. She was ecstatic to be close enough to touch his cheek, to hug him, to…

Her musings were cut off by her uncle loudly and obviously clearing his throat. "Come on Ron, let's go to the… something," he said, lightly grabbing Ron's upper arm and walking towards the door.

"What? Hell no!" Ron answered, pulling his arm away from Harry.

Harry shook his head. "Don't we have to be at... that place, or something?"

"We have nowhere else in the world to be right now," he gritted through his teeth, glaring at Harry.

"Let's go to the gift shop. Our various children would hex us if we didn't bring them back something," Harry said gently, trying again.

"They'll live," Ron said flatly.

Harry sighed. "I'm hungry. Come with me to go get something to eat."

"Last I checked you didn't need an escor-"

His sentence was interrupted by Harry grabbing both of his arms and forcibly shoving him out of the hotel room.

"I think I can keep him occupied for about five minutes," he whispered, winking before he shut the door. Ron could be heard mumbling down the hallway, trying to put up a fight.

Distracted by the scene her family was making, Rose quickly looked back at Scorpius, who was looking at her the same way he was in the picture of them in the common room: with complete adoration.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Rose let out a small laugh, never breaking eye contact. "Your gratitude is unnecessary, but wel-_umph!" _

Before Rose could finish, she found herself attached to Scorpius with his arms around her. It felt like he was squeezing the life from her, and she couldn't get enough of it. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, reveling in the feeling of him being there, being whole, and being all hers. Tears slide down her face as she rubbed her hands up and down his back, feeling as though she would die if she didn't touch every inch of him that she could reach. Scorpius nuzzled his face into the space between her neck and shoulder, and she could feel her skin becoming wet with his tears.

"You found me," his muffled voice said, almost in awe. "I can't believe that you actually found me."

Rose ran her fingers through his thick hair. "I rarely break my promises," she whispered, receiving a few shakes of laughter as a response.

Rose lifted her head from his shoulder, where it had been resting. Her movement caused Scorpius to look up as well. Rose was so close to his face that all that she could see were his eyes. They were filled to the brim with tears and squinted, showing that he was smiling. Before she had a moment to smile back, Scorpius put a hand on either side of her face and quickly pulled her in to the most searing kiss she would most likely ever receive in her entire life. In the kiss, she could tell that Scorpius was pouring all of his emotions—his sadness of being taken away, his amazement of seeing her, and his relief of being taken out of the awful situation he was in. She returned the kiss with great fervor, touching his face, his hands, running her fingers roughly through his hair, as he grabbed her hips and pulled her against him as tightly as he could before running his hands up and down her body, anywhere that his hands could find.

Rose's rationality took a vacation and an animalistic urge overcame her. She needed more of Scorpius, now. She began to walk forward until she felt Scorpius' back hit the wall behind him. She heard a light growl come from Scorpius' throat as he attacked her lips with more enthusiasm.

Before things could progress, however, they heard a loud voice in the hallway. "I'm going to see if Rose and Scorpius are hungry as well. Give me just a second, Harry!" Ron's voiced very loudly from right outside the door.

Rose jumped away from Scorpius immediately and ran across the room to sit in the chair, combing her hair with her fingers as she sprinted. When her father quickly opened the door to their room, Rose knew that she sitting in a chair staring out a window and Scorpius, a leg kicked up on the wall, picking at his nails seemed like an unusual sight. Thankfully, he said nothing about the oddness of the situation.

"Harry insists that we go eat. Why don't you two join us?" he asked in what Rose could tell he was hoping would be a nice manner. It came out more like he had a toothache.

"Um, we're not really, hungry, Dad," Rose said quietly, trying to hide her breathing, which was still escaping her lungs quickly.

Rose watched as her father lowered his head a fraction to give her the I-know-what-you're-up-to look. "It wasn't really a question, Rosie," he said in his best father voice.

"Right," Rose nodded and quickly stood up. She walked to her father and past Scorpius, who she couldn't give eye contact at the moment for fear of losing all ability to control herself.

"Sir," Scorpius spoke up as Rose reached the door. She saw Ron look up and frown at the young Malfoy. "I… well you see, I'm kind of anxious to get home…"

Ron nodded his head. "I understand. We'll be leaving first thing in the morning." He then took a step out of the room, extending his arm, indicating that Rose should go first. She looked at her father for a moment, seeing that he was deathly serious about the order in which he wanted them to leave the room. She smirked before walking down the hallway. She loved her father, especially after he helped her so much with finding Scorpius, but sometimes he was just so silly.


	7. Chapter 7: Going Home

Chapter 7: Going Home

Scorpius took a deep breath, filling his lungs after side-along Apparating with Rose's Uncle Harry. He closed his eyes and let the scents surrounding the outside of the large manor fill him. For years he had dreaded what the smell meant—a summer of being despised, ignored, and terribly mistreated. He realized after standing outside the home for a few seconds, however, that the dread did not return with him. He didn't know if it was his father being in jail, or the young woman standing beside him and holding his hand, but the house suddenly looked a lot brighter.

A loud cough interrupted Scorpius from his musings, followed by a force move him to the side—a force that effectively broke the bond between Scorpius' and Rose's hands.

"All right, let's get you safe and snug inside, and then we can go," Rose's father said a bit too enthusiastically, as we walked to the front door. Harry snorted, muttering something about, "such a dad," before following his best friend.

Scorpius looked to Rose, who had exasperation written on her face—a look she had dawned more often than not over the last several hours where her father was concerned. He caught her eye and smiled. It didn't matter that her dad didn't like him too terribly much, he was just happy to be home.

Scorpius followed Ron and Harry to the door and opened it, Rose right behind him.

"Mother, I'm home!"

Scorpius waited for a moment, expecting to hear a gasp, running, anything from an excited mother, but nothing came. He looked behind him, first at Rose, who had a confused expression, and then to Mr. Weasley, whose face showed that he wanted to usher Scorpius into the house as quickly as possible.

He walked into the doorway, past the stairs, and down the hallway. He paced forward cautiously… he couldn't possibly fathom what may have caused his mother to not welcome him on his homecoming, but he took out his wand just in case the cause was waiting around for guests.

When he reached the kitchen entryway, he slowly peeked around the corner. At the table, he saw sitting a woman with slightly bushy brown hair, reading a newspaper. She looked up quickly as she realized someone had joined her in the kitchen, and Scorpius saw that she had nearly the same exact beautiful eyes as his girlfriend.

"Mum!" came an excited shout from behind Scorpius, causing him to jump. Rose darted past him and ran into her mother's waiting arms.

"Rose, my love! I've missed you so much!" Rose's mum held her tight and kissed the side of her head. Her kind eyes travelled quickly back to Scorpius. "I see that your mission was a success," she stated as she let go of her daughter.

Scorpius quickly walked up to Rose's mother and offered his hand. "Mrs. Weasley, it's a privilege to meet you."

She stood up and laughed heartedly as she took his hand. "You have a polite young man here, Rose," she chuckled.

"I only told you two that about a thousand times," Rose muttered. Her mother chose to ignore her, however.

"Scorpius, Mrs. Weasley is a woman who is far greater than I. You can just call me Hermione," she smiled, squeezing his hand before letting go.

Scorpius smiled back. "Yes, ma'am."

"You're still calling me Mr. Weasley," came Ron's bemused voice from the entryway.

Scorpius turned to Rose's father as he heard her scoff. "Yes, Mr. Weasley," he said politely, earning himself a glare from the Weasley patriarch.

Scorpius heard another exhale of exasperation, but from an entirely different source.

"You're being ridiculous, Ron," Hermione said to her husband, her arms crossed and her eyes dangerously squinted.

"Ridiculous? Why is it ridiculous that the kid should show his elders some respect?" Ron argued from across the kitchen… and slightly hidden behind Harry.

"You just saved his life. I think he might respect you a bit for that," Hermione mocked.

"Well then he'll show it by calling me mister-"

"Hermione, Mr. Weasley," Scorpius cut in. "I'm very sorry to interrupt your… um… conversation, but I'm eager to learn the whereabouts of my mother."

Hermione glanced down at her newspaper, a look of deep concentration on her face. "Yes, well you see, that's' the reason that I'm actually here right now…"

Scorpius tried to look into her face, but she was hiding it away, as though she were nervous to reveal something.

Where could his mother be? If she wasn't in the house, perhaps she was looking for him? But with everything she's been through in the past several years, it would seem that she'd be too frightened to do such a thing…

Before he could deliberate further to himself, Hermione took a deep breath and spoke. "You see, after you had disappeared, I came to comfort her. She was very despondent, Scorpius. Through her sobs it was kind of difficult to understand her, but I did happen to pick up that she felt as though she barely knew you and something about the Appleby Arrows," she looked up at him, hoping to gather some information as to what that meant. Scorpius could only look back at her, equally confused.

"I'll explain it later," Rose said, indicating to her mother with a nod that she should continue.

Hermione studied her daughter for a moment before carrying on. "She told me that she had been a fool for nearly twenty years. Please understand, Scorpius, that she thought you were gone forever, that there was no way anyone would be able to find you and your father, so…" Hermione stopped and looked at her newspaper. She swallowed a few times, but it didn't seem that she could get the rest of the sentence out.

She didn't need to, though. "She left," he said quietly, completing Hermione's thought. He felt dizzy. He couldn't catch his breath and his chest was beginning to hurt. He sat down at the table, barely realizing that Rose's hand instantly found his shoulder, letting him know she was there.

Hermione breathed a heavy sigh. "She said that even if you did come back, there was no way she was qualified to help you become a good man. She felt that you'd be better off without her, free to become whoever you wanted without feeling the unnecessary baggage of her past mistakes. She then packed her luggage and left, without telling me where she was going."

Scorpius closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts and emotions. After a few moments, he took a deep breath. "Thank you very much, Hermione. I appreciate your attempt to help my mother."

Hermione walked over to where Scorpius sat and raised his chin to meet her eyes. "I don't know why she was concerned about helping you become a good man, when you've all ready become a great one." She smiled sadly. Scorpius returned the smile before lowering his eyes once again.

"Well, I suppose the house elves and I can take care of the house. I have some money saved up, I should be able to buy food and things I need before next term," he mumbled, thinking aloud.

Hermione laughed humorlessly. "Don't be silly, Scorpius. You're coming home with us."

"He's what?" asked two voices—Rose, who sounded very excited, and Ron… well, not so much.

Harry cleared his throat softly. "I'm just going to go…" he started, pointing down the hallway, trying to think of any excuse to leave the room he knew was going to be a warzone soon. "….get out of the line of fire. Excuse me."

Scorpius stood. "Hermione, I appreciate the offer, but I couldn't-"

"Yeah, he _couldn't_," Ron piped in sternly from his perch against the entryway to the kitchen. However, with a very threatening look from his wife, he quickly quieted.

Hermione turned back to Scorpius. "Why don't you and Rose go collect the rest of your things from your bedroom, and we'll leave."

Scorpius looked to her, and realized that if a fully qualified Auror can be quelled by a single look from his wife, perhaps this isn't a woman he should disagree with.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, and walked out of the kitchen, avoiding eye contact with Mr. Weasley, who was surely giving him a death glare.

As he and Rose made their way down the hallway, they heard her father state, "I'll go with them," then a mumble from her mother, and finally a great _thud_ as the floor rumbled. "A leg-locker curse, Hermione? Really?"

However, Rose completely missed this interaction since she was talking quickly as they travelled up the stairs to his bedroom. "I'm so excited you're coming to stay! There's so much we can do!" Scorpius merely nodded as he walked behind Rose, barely listening to her.

"…grandparents have this amazing orchard behind their house where we can play Quidditch without the muggles noticing…"

Scorpius looked around as he entered his room, remembering how, not too long ago, he couldn't wait to get out of it. Now he would trade all that back…

"… and we can take walks without my dad bugging us, and go to Diagon Alley!"

He went to his desk, looking at his belongings. He noticed a few books lying on it of various sizes. He picked up one of his heavier books and weighed it in his hands.

"…we can go over to Uncle Harry's and hang out with Al-"

He could no longer hold it in. "Aaaah!" Scorpius screamed, heaving the angry book as hard as he could against the opposite wall. He noticed from the corner of his eye that he caused Rose to jump, shock written on her face. He took several quick breaths before collapsing in his desk chair, leaning over to cover his face with his hands.

"We don't have to go visit Al…" he heard Rose whisper, shakily.

He ignored her. All he could do was think of his mother… his abandonment. It caused an ache inside of him from where anger was escaping exponentially. He wanted to scream more, to break everything, to curse the world for dealing him another crappy hand in his life.

He balled his hands into fists and pressed them firmly against his forehead. "How could she do this to me?" Scorpius asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

He stewed in his anger, his deep resentment, until he heard a quiet voice. "She thought she failed you." Scorpius looked up quickly, seeing Rose seated in front of him on the floor. She placed her hand on his knee before continuing. "I've only met your mother once, so I'm obviously not the authority here, but I think she thought that your father taking you away was entirely her fault. I could see in her eyes when my dad and I came here how deeply she loved you, and how ashamed she was of herself." She pulled one of the hands from him forehead and laid it against his leg, holding his hand. "What I think is that she wants a better future for you than the past you've had."

Scorpius looked away from Rose, trying to allow what she said to sink in. His mother wanted the best for him… wanted him to be happy… so she orphaned him? Nothing could make this better. Nothing would make him not angry. He banged his fist on the desk, causing Rose to jump again. "It doesn't matter! She should have stayed! She should have waited!" He hit the desk again.

He looked down at Rose. He need to let his anger out… there was just too much of it inside him. With one look into her understanding tearful eyes, however, he knew that it wasn't she in which he should take out his anger. All Rose had done was help him the entire time that he knew her. He hung his head and closed his eyes, feeling ashamed and empty.

Slowly, he felt Rose lean her body into his. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. He knew that he didn't deserve her or the comfort her was receiving, but leaned his forehead against her shoulder anyhow. He enfolded her with his arms, and squeezed her tightly. He knew it was ridiculous, but he felt that if he didn't hold onto her strongly enough, she would leave, too.

She seemed to pick up on his sentiment. She squeezed him tighter. "I'm here, Scorpius. I'm always here."

Scorpius took a deep shuddered breath before releasing her and leaning back. He looked into her sweet face and reached up to hold it in his hands. "In… well, in my entire life, really, you, Rose Weasley, have been the only constant." He leaned forward slightly and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Thank you for that," he finished with a small smile.

Rose seemed to be slightly dazed from the kiss. She smiled goofily and blinked rapidly several times. "Well you know," she started in a dreamy voice, "the things you do for the people you love."

Scorpius' heart leaped into his throat. He looked up quickly, his eyes wide, to see an equally as stunned Rose staring up at him.

"Oh!" She stood up quickly and backed away from Scorpius. "I… oh, um…"

"Love?" Scorpius tried to comprehend the word. It was making his stomach flutter and his insides warm.

Rose back up so far that she tripped over the now completely busted book that Scorpius threw earlier. After stabling herself, she began to look around the room, seemingly trying to find anything else to talk about. "I… well you see, I…" After looking around the room about ten more times, she finally gave up on a distraction and covered her face with her hands. "Yeah…"

"Love…" Scorpius repeated again, this time allowing the feeling to overwhelming him, causing a large smile to become imprinted on his face.

Rose, who still had her hands to her face, began to ramble. "I just… I did it wrong! It's just so soon and… but… you can't feel the same, of course you won't be feeling the same as me… I can't believe I screwed this up…"

Scorpius could no longer listen to her criticizing. He stood and quickly walked to Rose. He pried her hands from her face, but only found himself staring at the top of her head. He tried to lift her head by placing a finger under her chin, but she would not budge.

_Fine, if she won't move… _He lowered himself to his knees, holding onto her hands so she couldn't cover her face again, and looked up. She was squeezing her eyes shut.

Scorpius laughed softly. "Rose, please look at me." Rose minded him by barely opening one of her eyes. "You didn't screw up," he started, and was reward with her other eye as she gazed at him with sudden surprise. He smiled up at her. "You see, Rose, to put it very sappily, you're my… my everything, actually. You're the only one who can make me happy, who can make me feel as though I'm actually wanted in this world." Scorpius could see tears once again filling her eyes. "I need for you to know this so you have no doubt in your mind when I tell you that I absolutely and undeniably love you with everything that I am." Scorpius beamed brightly as he saw a few happy tears drip from her eyes, and a smile slowly spreading across her face. Scorpius felt all of the anger and sadness from earlier disappear with that gleam.

He captured Rose's lips as he stood up, and wrapped his arms around her securely. His adoring kiss traveled from her lips to her cheek, down to her jaw, across her chin… he wanted to relay to her how incredible she was, and how much he loved and wanted her. He heard Rose giggle lightly, and felt joy. He leaned his forehead against hers, and looked into her incredible eyes-the eyes that he fell in love with…

Their moment was broken by a yell from downstairs. "Hermione! Take this bloody curse off me!"

Laughter could be heard from both Hermione and Harry. "Are you a wizard or not, Ron?" Hermione taunted.

"You bloody well know that you fixed it so I can't do anything with it! Now take it off! I can't go up the stairs with this curse on my bloody legs!"

"That's kind of the point, mate," came Harry's amused voice.

"You know what? I'll get up the stairs anyway!" They then heard a big _stomp_, followed by a bigger _thump!_ "Ow! Bloody brainy witches…" _Stomp. Thump! _"Ow! They better not be doing anything…"

Scorpius looked back to Rose, who was shaking from silent giggles. He laughed softly as well before kissing her forehead. "Perhaps we should pack my things."

"I'm sure we have a few minutes before he makes his way up here," Rose whispered as she leaned in and captured Scorpius' lips.

Scorpius smiled mentally. _So far, orphaned life isn't so terrible… _


	8. Epilogue

**A/N: Ah, yes... this place looks familiar... **

**I have two excuses for the super lateness of this epilogue. One, I'm pregnant, and my body is NOT enjoying it. Two, Farscape is such an amazing show, no matter how many times I watch it. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last installment of the here story. :) **

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**Epilogue**

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"Stop it."

Scorpius looked up at his girlfriend, eyebrows raised and a small smirk on his face. This was the fourth time in the last few minutes that she had slapped the Daily Prophet out of his hands. He shook his head and calmly picked the newspaper up off of the kitchen table to continue his search.

"Stop it." Another slap, this time ripping one of the pages he was reading.

"Rose…" Scorpius scolded slightly, before continuing to examine the paper.

Things were silent for a few moments afterwards… but he should have known that it wouldn't have lasted. Without knowing how it happened, the newspaper he was so intently searching was torn out of his hands and found itself under Rose's bottom.

Scorpius laughed silently as he put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "Was there something that I could help you with?" he asked patiently.

Rose looked at the ceiling, feigning thought. "No," she finally answered.

"Then may I please have my newspaper back?"

"No," Rose smiled innocently, scooting her bottom on her chair, causing the newspaper to become more disheveled.

"And why not?" Scorpius asked curiously.

Rose mirrored Scorpius' image, placing her head in her hands as well. "Because you won't stop looking for a new place to live."

Scorpius closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over them, "We've all ready gone over this, Rose…"

"You are _not_ inconveniencing any-"

"Ha! I beg to differ," he laughed sarcastically. "Your brother, while very accommodating, has a look that says the quicker I leave him to his own little sanctuary, the better-"

"He doesn't ca-"

"Your mother, who has been a complete saint, seems a bit strained to take care of another person. I think cooking for five people has been causing her some stress-"

"She was never a very good cook to begin wi-"

"And your father looks like he wants to severely maim me every time he sees me around you. I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing me as far away from you as possible."

"He's just being immatu-"

"Rose," Scorpius stopped before she came up with another comeback and took hold of her hands. "Please try to understand. I love you. I love being here with you. But this isn't my home."

"The places in here," she indicated the newspaper by wiggling her butt once again, "are not your home either. If you're going to be homeless, it may as well be in a place you enjoy being."

Scorpius lowered his head to look at the table. "But I need a home." He glanced back up at Rose. She was giving him a look as if you say to him without using words how silly she thought he was being. "I know that with you, I can completely be myself. You are my one constant. You keep me going." He kissed one of her hands before continuing. "But there has never been a place that I felt was home; nowhere where I could completely at ease with myself. I need a place for me—a location in the world that I can call my own."

Rose let out a long breath. "But we're a few weeks from going back to Hogwarts. Why are you doing this now? Why can't you wait? Why don't you want to spend the rest of your summer with me?" The hurt look in Rose's eyes made Scorpius' heart break slightly. But he stuck to his resolve.

"Your presumptions of why I'm doing this are really quite…. well, stupid," he smirked. "I'm doing this now for a couple of different reasons. First," he began holding one finger up, "since my father is in prison in Bulgaria, he cannot freeze any of his assets, so I have complete access to our funds. I'm not going to spend as much as I can, all though that would make my father quite irate and make me very happy," he grinned to himself, "but I am going to at least find myself a nice place to live."

Rose rolled her eyes, still not happy with the situation. "And the second reason?"

"What do we plan on doing after we graduate from Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked.

"Travel the world," Rose answered, using a tone of voice that let Scorpius know that he should _really_ keep the stupid questions to a minimum. However, he continued.

"And what do you plan on doing after that?"

Rose sighed. "You all ready know I have no idea what I want to do."

"Well, I do," he said with resolution.

Rose looked up at him quickly. "You do? Since when?"

Scorpius smiled at her. "It's a fairly recent development." Rose raised her eyebrows at him, indicating that she was impatient for his continuation. He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. "And if I somehow get my way in a world that seems to hate me, the plans will involve you, and hopefully, someday, it'll be your home as well," he finished.

Rose stared at him for a moment, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She looked around the room for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out what in the world he had just implied.

"And it'll be a lot easier to do such things if I have my own home," Scorpius said slyly, smiling at his dazed girlfriend.

Rose focus returned to Scorpius. She looked as though she were trying to figure out if he was serious. He kept his eyes locked to hers, not wavering in the slightest.

"Thank Merlin, I've finally gotten you to stop talking!" Scorpius teased after a moment of an intense staring battle, shooting her a half smile. Rose narrowed her eyes, but smiled back at him brightly. "Now," Scorpius commanded with bogus seriousness, "may I please have my newspaper back?"

Rose looked at him quizzically before remembering the paper underneath her derriere. She quickly grabbed it and handed it back to him. He gave her one last smirk before once again perusing the realty section of the Daily Prophet. The future was finally looking bright.

**_fin_**

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_That's it! I hope you enjoyed the story. I plan on writing two more for this particular storyline (hopefully before the little bun decides to pop out of the oven), and I have a Neville/Hannah story in the works (because really, you just don't see enough Neville/Hannah stories!). **

**Thanks you all for the reviews! **


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